School's End
by airstream
Summary: An infection spread throughout the school, the remaining students are now striving to survive amidst this chaos, but... can they make it?
1. Chapter 1 Classes are Suspended

**School's End**

Chapter I: Classes are suspended

It was almost winter and the days are getting colder. At the college of Livingstone, the students of Professor Simms don't even bother what he was saying. "In my earlier days, we only had a chance to get to college because we worked while we are studying, we…." and he went on and on. He was an old professor who wasn't popular with the students, instead of teaching his subject; he tended to tell the story of his past life.

"There he goes again" grumbled some of the students at the back seats.

"Well, I'm pretty sure we are in the right classroom," asked Brenda irritably, as she reads her notes for her other subjects through her big round spectacles that almost cover the upper-part of her face. She almost tore the sheet in her frustration.

"I think I enrolled in HistoryOfMyOldProfessor101…" said Dan. He tried to sound as serious as he can. He wasn't watching the professor; instead he spun a pen at his fingers for amusement while brushing his spiky hair with his hand.

"Is that a joke? ...that's… too corny" said Shiela raising an eyebrow. She's simple and pretty, but her snobbish ways intimidate a lot of guys.

Dan frowned. "At least Xander laughed," he pointed out.

Xander replied in a lazy tone, "I think it's much better than Sir Simms' stories." He yawns as he looked at Professor Simms with his eyes half closed, his right hand at his chin and his elbow resting on the armrest. It doesn't take a genius to tell that he loves watching Anime and Asian series because of the style of his hair.

Dan dropped the pen he was playing and it rolled near to Xander's feet. As Xander bowed down to reach for it, suddenly the lights go off, as the light flickers, the classroom became a mess; blood was splattered throughout the room. Students looked awful, red tears of blood ooze down their cheeks, contrasting their perfectly pale skins. They are attacking the normal ones, tearing and biting much like wild beasts feasting on a dead deer. And amidst the chaos Xander stood like a statue, completely paralyzed. It's as if he was restrained by chains he cannot break.

One student was walking unsteadily to him coughing hard with blood. As the creature approaches, he recognized the face. It's one of his friends.

"B…Br...Brenda…" he called out in a shaking voice. He was about to say something more but the moment all of the creatures noticed his existence, they are lunging for him. His mind is at chaos; his heart is pounding in his chest like it is trying to get out.

A ferocious growl somewhere far outside the locker snapped him back to reality.

"Ouch!!" squeaked Xander after hitting something hard in his face. Now wide awake, he examined where he was. Apparently the locker was a compartment for clothes and shoes for the baseball club players. He realized he was just dreaming.

"Shhh…. I should also be saying that! You almost broke my glasses with your head butt," whispered a girl in front of him. The darkness was hiding her whole face since Xander's head was blocking the sole rectangular shaped opening that allowed light to stream through. "Let's wait for 'it' to be far away so we can come out safe."

"What makes you think we can be safe after that?" asked Xander exasperatingly.

"Shhh… please just whisper ok?"

"Sorry…" he said silently after realizing his fault. "May I know your name?"

"I think we always meet on the hallway… I'm Hitomi Sanada. Nice to meet you."

"I am Alexander Timelock. Just call me Xander. Nice place to get introduced for the first time huh?"

They will have burst out laughing if not for Xander's hands covering his and Hitomi's mouth.

"You know…um… this is the first time my face is close to a guy."

Xander turned four shades of red when he realized he had his arm resting on her shoulders.

"A...Anyway, w…we should think of a plan… how we could get out of here alive… I…I don't hear any of those growls anymore…"

"Me either, so what now?"

"I…I'll go out first, I'll call you out after if it's safe, if not stay here as long as you can, and try to wait for so-"

A hand to his mouth shuts him up effectively.

"Don't say that, we are both going to survive this… let's have faith, ok? I'll wait for your call."

Xander smiled and nod before he taking a baseball and placed it in his pocket.

"I might need this."

It was already evening as he walked cautiously in the moonlit room, fear clouding his empty mind. There is a crunch of compressed plastic; he had trodden a mineral bottle on the floor. There are opened and closed lockers, towels, shoes, and dirty baseball uniforms scattered across the room, splattered with blood.

He felt goose bumps rise as he walked silently, searching for a possible weapon. That was when he saw a baseball club.

"Just what I need," he told himself. He looked cautiously across the room while carrying the baseball bat at shoulder level and assumed a stance, ready to strike. After clearing the area he silently closed the door, feeling safe, he got back and get Hitomi.

"This room is free from those things, I need your help to push the closest cabinet to block the door," instructed Xander calmly to Hitomi.

After barricading the door, they sat in front of the window with their back leaning against a cabinet. Xander asked "How did I got inside the locker with you in the first place?"

"I saw you lying in front of this locker room," answered Hitomi. "Of course at first I was cautious, you might be one of those creatures, but you looked normal so I checked your pulse and carried you to this room, Then I heard something so I stash us in the locker.

"Th…thank God you were the first one to see me lying outside…" said Xander staring at the window.

"Umm… do you remember anything after you passed out?" she asked.

"Wait I'll try to refresh my memory a bit…I was in class and… the fire alarm just set off, we thought it's another fire drill, or someone playing a trick again, but we heard screams. Our professor told us not to panic and go to the nearest fire exit, but me and my friends were separated after going outside because of the stampede. I was certain it's not fire, I couldn't smell smoke. I saw strange moving students and some staffs were attacking the other people outside the window, so I ran going down the stairs. Maybe I was bumped strongly by the stampede of the people and got knocked out cold, and here I am now, saved by you as you have told me, thanks…" said Xander with a smile. He later felt Hitomi sleeping with her head on his shoulder; he could see Hitomi's hair at the corner of her eyes.

"We'll need all the strength we have to survive this," he said and closed his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2 Other Survivors

Chapter II: Other Survivors

It was almost sunset; lots of screams were heard throughout the campus. There was bloodshed across the hallways, like the school was in some war.

"I think we are safe here for now, let me look at your wound," said Professor Ursula, a short tempered professor. She wore sharp ended eyeglasses which added strictness to her appearance, and her old fashioned attire tended to be some kind of a joke to her students.

The faculty room's contents were properly fixed, no trace of any unusual things took place. It had a large glass window facing an open field where students often carry out their morning exercises

"T…th…thank you…pr…prof…essor…" the bitten student coughed weakly before vomiting blood. He was pale, and his eyes were turning red. His right arm was almost torn off from a horrible bite; he was trying to hold off the blood with his handkerchief which was now tinted red from his own blood, but still the bleeding wouldn't stop.

"Oh what's happening to you, that is a serious injury my boy, you just wait there, I think some of my co-professors have placed their first aid kit somewhere here" said Professor Ursula. She strode forward and opened the drawers of each table and finally saw a box with a red colored cross sign. "Oh yes here it is my b… I SAID YOU JUST WAIT THERE!" screamed Professor Ursula her temper going off again.

The bitten student was now standing with his head almost bowing, and lurches towards Professor Ursula.

"W..wait you're turning into one of them… y…you know me right? I'm going to give you a failing GRADE if you won't stop there right now. STOP!" screeched Professor Ursula. Apparently her shout attracted other infected ones outside of the faculty room. They were pounding their fists outside the room. As her infected student staggered towards her slowly, she searched frantically for a possible weapon, after finding a mop she pointed it directly to the student.

"S…see what you have done! Y…You have called your friends to attack me! I'm going to hit all of you with this if you don't stop! Tell that to them HURRY!" ordered Professor Ursula as she swung the mop trying to scare off the student "Oh… So you still are going to get me after ALL?"

Professor Ursula took several steps back until she reached the window. The infected student was almost near to her, and some of the infected ones outside were almost destroying the door.

She heard the windows break behind her. She cried "NO!" As the hand grabbed her behind, it seemed that it was another student survivor holding a pole, now she's outside the faculty room.

"Are you ok, Ma'am Ursula? Let's get out of here while they are still inside the room," said the student with blood stained uniform offering his hand but Professor Ursula sway it away at once.

"THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING WITH YOU! Y…YOU WILL JUST LET ME BE EATEN B...BY TH…THOSE THINGS!" shouted Professor Ursula. "Look behind you, there's your comrade." As the student turned his head, a vicious bite inflicted his shoulders, causing him to yelp out of pain.

"Professor!" he screamed, "Please run!… My friends… are at the entrance gates…" said the student as he still struggled to hit the infected student in the head even if it still didn't let go of his arm like it's jaw was locked.

It torn off a portion of the student's shoulder, blood gushed out from it.

"Can't you understand? No one will survive this, NO ONE!" Professor Ursula bellowed like a lunatic, while she stares at the student being bitten. An infected student lunges to her from the faculty window, successfully tearing off her neck.

…..

"What are those things? They were just perfectly normal students before and now they've become flesh eating monsters! And where in the world are Xander and Brenda?" shouted Dan as they ran through the hallway. Behind them were the other pale-looking students who had bloodshot eyes, walking to them unsteadily. "Do you think I could answer that? " replied Shiela irritatingly as she looked back. "Just run!"

Upon reaching the stairs at the end of the hallway they stopped; downstairs there were some infected students tearing apart a normal one, "No! NO! HELP!" he screamed timorously.

Upstairs they saw a falling student to the platform leading to another stairs to the floor where Dan and Shiela were , it appears like she doesn't know what she's doing, as she sat there on her knees, she started coughing blood but somehow, there was an air of 'liveliness around her. She was not lost, not yet.

"Ewww…" –almost throwing up he looked back to Shiela- "So what now?!" asked Dan. "I'm not Superman, so I think we won't survive after jumping out of the window."

Shiela retorted "This isn't the time for your endless jokes Dan!" as she cautiously looked at her left and right.

"Psssstttt… In here," said a voice inside the classroom just beside them. Dan and Shiela immediately ran to the opened door of the classroom. "Quick! Help me block the door with this shelf."

As they lugged the bookshelf to the door they saw it was no longer the usual classroom crammed with noisy students. All they could see were scattered chairs, most probably caused by panicked students mad dashing here and there. And blood – blood painted the space and there was an unquestioned cold feeling enveloping them.

Somewhere outside the room, a dull, sickening groan was heard from the infected students. The guy placed his pointing finger in the middle of his lips signaling that they should keep quiet.

After the sound of the creature was gone the guy whispered "Well hello my fellow survivors, I am Edward Sean David Bellforth, some call me "Eddie", some just call me 'The Zombie Exterminator', I thought I was just going to survive this all alone" he chuckled. His hair was pretty messy, it's long enough to cover his whole face,so he tied it up in a pony tail, he wore a T-shirt with a design of a zombie with a knife on its head. He looked more like a fourth year college student.

"Do they really call you 'The Zombie Exterminator?' Cool…" said Dan with an amazed looked at the guy's T-shirt.

"Guess I'm stuck with two morons here…" said Shiela silently to herself.

"We'll just call you Eddie because it's shorter."

"Tch… shouldn't have said Eddie at the first place" said Eddie dissapointedly, biting his thumb.

"So what is going on Mr. Zombie Exterminator?" asked Dan his eyes gazed upon Eddie.

"Shhh…! Lower your voices or they might hear us…" said Eddie while peeking at the small glass window at the door.

"At least someone knows some manners, anyway here's the catch, as far as I know, I think there are these creatures spreading the "_virus_" to our campus, I have seen one lurking just outside this room a bit later before you came in …"

"Thank God we didn't see it," whispered Dan abruptly.

"…it looks half-human half monster, it doesn't move like one of the 'infected ones' which are slow and doesn't seem to really know what they are doing, It's like it has a mind of its own. I'll call it the "runner" –he chuckled. Then his voice dropped to a much more serious tone- "I have seen it biting one of my fellow classmates, it's fast but he doesn't eat his victim, he just tends to bite and leave them alone." answered Eddie with a serious tone.

And just as suddenly, there was a bloodcurdling scream by a girl. The voice was quite far away but seemed to catch the attention of the infected ones.

But the low growls heard beyond the door told them they were still not alone.

"So what do you suggest we do now?" asked Shiela nervously.

"I think let's wait for the police I'm sure they will come here, or maybe the Justice League will finally show up, or the Fantastic Four, or the Avengers, or th…."

"I wasn't talking to you and your foolish mind Dan, I was talking to Eddie," whispered Shiela abruptly with a more forceful voice.

"You didn't…" answered Dan but immediately closed his mouth after seeing Shiela looked at him furiously.

"I think the police couldn't help us now, I tried to call them but no one's picking up, only the answering machine is and from what I have watched on zombie apocalyptic movies, some of them might be like one of those "things" right now. If they would react on this, they should be here by now, because the police station is not that far from here anyway. It is best if we look for other survivors for more backups," answered Eddie silently.

"At least someone here's got a point," said Shiela looking at Dan.

"I believe that Xander and Brenda are still alive and are looking for us too," said Dan immediately like he didn't hear Shiela said something.

"Ok let's look for them," whispered Eddie.

"Aren't you going to look for your friends?" asked Shiela.

"They are now infected I saw it happened with my own eyes" answered Eddie seriously. "I killed one of them who almost bit me, as I thought, it's just like what's said in the book I just read '_How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse_' - '_hit it in the head_'. For now let's wait till the sun is up, it will be much easier if we can see them better."

"Cool… I never knew there was a book like that, tell me more please?" begged Dan.

"Uhhh I don't know…" said Eddie.

"Pretty please… w…with Ice cream on top? Coated with chocolate syrup? added Dan.

"It's a bit classified you know? TOP SECRET," said Eddie emphasizing the words top secret

"…with strawberries and cherry on top? And sprinkled with marshmallows and milk chocolate bits?"

Foolishly convinced by Dan, Eddie told him some of the contents of the book. "Well ok the first thing you should know is that a zombie…"

"I can't believe this is all really happening and what's more is that I'm stuck with a moron and a zombie apocalypse fan," said Shiela to herself silently while going to the nearest armchair. "At least it's better than being alone." As she looks at the two while they are conversing.


	3. Chapter 3 Reality at its Worst

Chapter III: Reality at its Worst

The day was as cold as yesterday. When Xander woke up he didn't saw Hitomi's head on his shoulders. He immediately stood up and checked to see if the door was still barricaded, hoping it was. So he searched for her in the room.

"Hitomi… Hito…" he stopped and instantly turned back as he saw Hitomi dressing up with her back against him.

"Oh… don't look…" said Hitomi embarrassingly as she quickly wore her t-shirt.

"I….I'm sorry…I didn't really knew, I'm really sorry…" he was completely stunned – and now sweating profusely. "You can turn around now, don't worry, I guess you didn't see anything… right?" teased Hitomi.

"Yeah ye…"

As he turned around, his jaw dropped as if an angel had just descended before him.

"What's with that face? Do I look like one of the creatures? Hmm?" asked Hitomi and blew her cheeks like a balloon. Her cherry blossom hair blended perfectly well with her pinkish skin.

Xander was unable to produce a word; she looked like an anime character on one of his favorite shows. He could even imagine Hitomi wearing a cat's ears and tail.

"Is there something on my face? Or is it my hair?" She pinched a few strands and raise them to eye-level. "Honestly, it's artificial. I really like pink so I dyed it yesterday before going to school."

"Kawaii… Hitomi-chan…" The moment those words of praises left his lips, he quickly pinched his left arm and dabbed at those embarrassing trail of saliva. Thank goodness it wasn't _Hitomi _who brought him back to his senses.

"Ohh.. s..so..sorry. I… I w…was… Y..You.." Trying his best to evade her eyes, he looked around the room, pretending that the bland walls and three-inch-thick dust is more appealing than the goddess in front of him.

"Oh, my glasses! Wait I'll get it from the comfort room," said Hitomi, raising her pointing fingers at the level of her head and ran towards the comfort room.

"Yesterday… a bad dream, and now… I'm with a girl like her?"

Suddenly, a disturbing force was pounding on the door. Whatever that was pounding on it was frantic; the bangs lasted for a couple of seconds and seemed to be increasing in forcefulness. The door was going to give way. But it couldn't be a monster – monsters don't plea for their lives. "Please open the door! Someone! I'll get eaten! Help me!"

Xander's body reacted subconsciously. Sprinting to the door, he immediately pushed the cabinet. "Wait, I'll just push this cabinet aside!" he said. After a few seconds, there was an added force pushing the cabinet; he saw Hitomi's hand. They both smiled at each other. "Ready one…two…push!"

The cabinet was pushed aside; Xander immediately unlocked the door, giving entrance to the guy who almost hit his face on the ground after trying to pierce through. He looked like a fourth year college student; gasping as if he just finished a race. His shirt was splattered with blood and the left part of his shirt was torn.

"Spare us the introductions and thanks. Let's push this cabinet back so they won't get in," Xander instructed right away.

They sat with their back at the cabinet, catching their breath.

"Whew… that was close, you looked… like you've done lots of… dodging… from those things," said Hitomi, noticing the guy's torn shirt, as the infected ones kept slamming the door.

"This won't hold for another day if they keep slamming on it," uttered Xander.

"You two slept here?" asked the guy curiously.

"I…It's not like what you think," replied Hitomi defensively.

"A…anyway let's back the door up with the locker again," interrupted Xander while blushing.

With the door barricaded and fortified, the newcomer asked, "So how can we bust through those man-eating monsters outside?"

"There's actually a small window up there, I think it'll lead us outside of this building," answered Xander. "We should put that chair and table there, and open that window –"

"Easier said than done, but it's our only choice," said the guy straightly.

They piled up the sole chair and table in the vicinity. "I guess we'll do it the hard way," said Xander. "Hitomi shall go after you. She can step on my back, and you reach for her hand when you're outside. Ok?"

The guy and Xander clambered over the heap of furniture. It only took Xander's crossed arms for leverage and that guy was soon lifting the latch barring the window. "I don't see any of them," he informed the rest, his eyes keen on the surrounding. "I'll be going up now."

"Take this baseball club," said Xander while handing it over to the guy above. "You're next Hitomi," said Xander.

Suddenly there was a crack sound coming from the door, and the pounding became more violent.

"The door's not going to last," Hitomi cried anxiously.

"Hey there, what's your name? Come and help Hitomi to go up! Hey are you still there?" shouted Xander.

"Tch… He might have fled by himself. Anyway I'll try to bring you up more Hitomi."

Hitomi stepped on Xander's back and said, "Don't look up ok?" He tried to maintain his legs straight while bowing and holding Hitomi's feet.

……………………..

Dan was snoring; his left cheek rests at the arm of the chair, and saliva is dribbling out of his mouth. Meanwhile Eddie was sleep-talking, "Take that you flesh eating monsters," while punching the air. And then he lowered his fist again and snored.

Shiela almost laughed at his antics, but she forced herself not to. Then she approached Dan.

"Dan… wake up it's already morning." She pushed him back and forth.

"Uhh… w...wait mom… my pr…prof…fess...or t…told....me…" Dan mumbled in his snore and half-awareness.

"What am I going to do with these two," said Shiela irritably once again. She slapped Dan at the face.

"Ouch mom! You shouldn't ha…" He looked at his surroundings. "Oh yeah, I thought everything was just a dream," muttered Dan, finally awake and yawned. Shiela crept over to Eddie to wake him up.

"Hey Eddie, wake up," she rocked him back and forth.

"You can't kill me!" said Eddie while sleeping and almost hitting Shiela with his punch.

Shiela slapped Eddie in the cheek. "You almost hit me!"

"You've got some awesome dodging techniques there, Shiela," teased Dan, grinning.

"Well, you shut up and plan our grand getaway. Oh yeah, I forgot you can't think properly," teased Shiela.

"As a matter of fact I brought my VAN, so we could ride in it after finding Xander and Brenda," said Dan calmly.

"You think they are still alive? I won't bet on it…ouch! What's the matter with you?" asked Eddie.

Shiela slapped Eddie with a force unlike before. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she broke out, "Yes, they're still alive! We'll _all _survive this!"

"Shh… I can see two creepy looking students walking near this room. We should be talking silently for now," whispered Dan.

"You guys have weapons on you?" asked Eddie.

"I've got a book in my bag pack," replied Dan.

"How about you, Shiela?"

"I may not look like one, but I have a black belt in karate."

Eddie moved beside Dan and whispered, "I think we should stop making her angry, or it might be the end of our lives."

"What are you two talking about?"

"No nothing. It's just a man talk," replied Eddie winking at Dan.

"Whatever. We'll use that chair and whack them silly."

"Ok boss," said Dan immediately

"Don't call me that!"

"Ok master…"

"Oh whatever…"

"Let's first push this cabinet aside," instructed Eddie. All prepped up for a showdown, they armed themselves with plastic chairs.

"Everyone ready?" asked Shiela, then she opened the door. Eddie and Dan charged outside while carrying the plastic armchairs; they threw them to two infected students near the room and ran. The stairs was at the left side of the classroom, but there was an infected student ascending it. Eddie slammed his body to the infected student and it was pushed down. Dan on the other hand jumped from above the stairs, landing precisely on the infected student's neck and head, almost crushing its skull from the impact. "I knew leather shoes could be of some use," he mused.

"We are now at the third floor. I think Xander is at the first floor, judging by his curious nature, he must have gone down to see what was going on yesterday," said Shiela.

"What about Brenda?" asked Dan

"She might have followed Xander."

"What makes you think that?"

"Ahh… you boys are so insensitive, she likes him!"

"Whoa, that's news."

"One more floor," said Eddie as they go down the stairs.

On the second floor they saw three more infected students near them. Shiela hit once at the neck but it was ineffective and it got hold of her hand. Dan who was at the back looped his arms under its armpits to lock its movements.

"It's… a… move in the wrestling show… I watched…, now he can't move…" bragged Dan again. The infected student kept struggling when it twisted his head to almost biting Dan's face. "Whoa, that was close," said Dan nervously pushing his head backwards. Eddie crushed the head with the wooden pole he was carrying. The blood splattered on Dan's face.

"Ewww… you should've said you were going to hit it you know," said Dan with disgust, wiping off blood from his face.

"I couldn't have hit it if you didn't hold him tight," said Eddie. More infected students are now walking towards them, moaning. Shiela screamed.

..…..

Suddenly a hand grabbed Hitomi's hand. "I just checked if there are some of them loitering around," said the familiar voice.

"I almost thought you've left us!" shouted Xander maintaining his balance.

"Well, how can I let those monsters eat this beautiful girl here," he replied.

"What's your name anyway!" asked Xander.

"I'm Michael Finsley," answered the guy while trying to pull Hitomi up.

Hitomi was now outside offering his hand to Xander but he climbed down.

"Wait, I'll look for another baseball club," he said.

"Faster! They're almost in!" shouted Hitomi anxiously after seeing several hands penetrating the door.

"Don't worry, ah here's one." He immediately ran to where the chair and table were piled up and climbed on it. "Get this first," he said. After handing over the baseball club, he tried to reach for Michael's hands. "I…I can't reach your hand!" he said.

"Try to jump!" shouted Michael leaning more and stretching his hand further.

Xander jumped but unfortunately he slipped while landing at the chair and thus falling to the floor. "Ouch… Almost had it…"

"Are you alright down there?" asked Michael as he looked down from the window.

"Not really," answered Xander while standing up and gently touched his bottom. "I will just look for other things to step on". He saw three books and piled them on the chair.

"Hurry!" said Hitomi sounding so nervous.

Fear was enveloping Xander's heart, he even thought of telling them to leave him, but he remembered Hitomi's words: Don't say that, we are both going to survive this… let's have faith, ok?

Time was running out. The monsters were going to pour in.

"Xander, they're coming in!" said Hitomi her voice was more nervous than ever.

"Try to jump as if it's your last!" shouted Michael, just as anxious as the other girl.

Two infected students felt Xander's presence and were now walking towards him.

"There are coming for you, Xander!" shouted Hitomi.

Xander's heart was palpitating. He was afraid; he didn't want to die in a place like this. He still had lots of things to do. Not here… not like this. So silently, he prayed, "God, please give me strength… I…I don't want everything to end here."

Then, he jumped. He felt lighter than ever – Michael's hand was so close – and he grabbed it with all of his might, knocking over the chair and table.

"At last," said Michael. "Reach for Xander's hand." But then one of the infected ones got Xander's foot.

"It got my foot!" shouted Xander. It refused to release his limb no matter how hard he shook it.

"Kick it with everything you got, don't let it bite you," said Michael nervously. "I'll count to three and we will use all of our strength to pull Xander up, ok? "

"Ok..." said Hitomi, almost crying she grabbed Xander's free hand.

"Don't worry we'll save your boyfriend," said Michael smiling. "Ready, one… two…three!"

As Xander kicked the head of the infected student with all of his might, it let go of him and he was pulled up with the help of Hitomi and Michael.

Hitomi instantly hugged Xander who was almost out of air from exhaustion and from Hitomi's breathtaking hug. "I…I almost thought you were going to leave me…" cried Hitomi.

"So – sorry… I think I worry you too much…" Xander's blushed furiously but despite the heat rising from his cheeks, deep inside he felt relief – knowing that there was Hitomi to comfort him and wash those turmoil away.

"It's not that I'm jealous or want to end your romantic scene, but I think we will be into some fighting and running here… Look at the numbers of the infected students and school staff... I can even recognize that strict security guard. So what do we do next Lover-boy?" teased Michael looking back at the two. "Hey, hey... you two aren't even listening to what I have said... wait Lover-boy is turning violet. Loosen up your hug, miss," And he tried to break up the two.

Xander coughed and took a deep breath.

"I…I'm really sorry…" said Hitomi, bowing a couple of times.

"D...don't worry about it," said Xander while trying to laugh it off his face was still blushing. "I…I think we are at the back of the school building,"

Looking across, he saw a baseball field; it is usually crowded with screaming fans but now it looked like a cemetery with the dead rising.

"Lucky there's a bush beside this window," said Michael. "Let's catch our breath a bit. The passage leading to the entrance gates of this school is at our left side, but to get there, we need to pass those five infected students. Remember, their weakness is their heads."

Xander saw three students running through the field, fighting some infected zombies with mops and poles; one student was bitten, letting out a painful scream. He stood up and got his baseball club, Michael held his shoulders and said "It's a pity but he's done for."

"But if we save them now we will be a team with six people" said Xander clutching his baseball bat tight, but Michael punched him into the ground.

"You idiot! There's no way we're going to make it with only two third of us armed! I know it sucks but this is reality, so face it! We can't save everyone!"

Xander fell silent while touching his aching face. At the same time the two closest zombies felt their existence. "Wait you two…" said Hitomi and moved into their midst.

If you can't take that punch, you might as well offer yourself to those things," Michael spat as he held the bat up. "Hey missy," he called out to Hitomi, his eyes still flaming, "Your boyfriend's a wuss. I'll be protecting you from now on."

Michael attacked one of the infected students; he hit it in the head hard crushing its head and popping out its eyes. Unfortunately the other infected student lunged at him, pushing him down the ground; his only shield was the bat he was holding with his two hands, at opposite ends. The infected student bit the bat, trying to break it into two, and then suddenly its head was crushed. Blood splattered on Michael's face.

"Good timing…" The metallic whiff of blood was thick on his visage and Michael had to wipe it off with his shirt.

"Thanks for waking me up earlier," said Xander offering his hand to Michael.

"No problem, I'll give that to you anytime you want, let's proceed to the passage, some of them are now closing in onto us," said Michael smiling at Xander.

"Ok, lead the way," said Xander. They ran to the passage evading and hitting some of the infected students and upon reaching a staircase leading upstairs, Xander said, "Let's look for my friends upstairs. They might be looking for me too".

"How many times must I tell you? They're dead!" shouted Michael as he tries to hit an incoming infected student to them.

"My friend Dan has a van we could ride into, it's better than running across the town."

"Well you should've said that earlier!" He crushed the head of the infested student near him.

"Help!" screamed the girl upstairs. They immediately climbed upstairs to aid the screaming girl.

Xander recognized her; it was Shiela. Dan and Eddie were fighting off some infected students. "Shiela!" shouted Xander. She was lying down on the floor, trying to prevent the infected student from biting her. She was keeping it at a distance with an arm against its shoulder.

"Help me!" plead Shiela. As fast as he could, he ran and hit the infected student's head with his baseball club, crushing its head, splattering Shiela and the floor with blood. She pushed the body from its side. Now they have attracted almost all the infected students at the floor.

"Xander, thank God you are all right!" said Dan with a tone of relief. "We were just separated for a day and now you've got a girlfriend! Life's so unfair! What's her name?" he asked looking at Hitomi.

"No time for friendly chitchats, we are currently trapped," said Michael.

"Dan! Where did your park your van?" asked Xander immediately.

"Ground floor north from here," answered Dan.

More infected students were now closing unto to them at different directions.


	4. Chapter 4 A Sacrifice

Chapter IV: A Sacrifice

"We do not have any choices. Let's go inside that classroom," said Xander looking at the closest classroom to their left.

Michael rushed to open the door and shouted "Go go go!"

"Let's push that shelf to barricade this door," said Eddie at once.

The door was now blocked with a shelf; still the infected students kept hammering their fists at the door.

"Xander, did you see Brenda?" asked Shiela as she grabbed Xander's arm and looked him straight in the eye.

"No…" he felt his heart dropped. "I thought she was with you…" said Xander, his eyes unblinking.

"We need to first figure out how to get out of here. I think they won't stop slamming on the door until it's broken…" said Michael, staring down, apparently thinking of something.

"Let's call the police. It didn't work in the baseball club's room but I'll see if I can get a signal here," muttered Hitomi as she dialed the hotline "100". But when she faced her friends again, her downcast look was answer enough. "It says all circuits are busy…"

"If they could help us, they should be here by now…" said Michael. "I also tried calling them yesterday before joining you two, but it's just what you've said Hitomi."

"I say we carry these chairs and give them hell." suggested Eddie holding up an armchair.

"No, too reckless. They're more powerful than us. We might get dragged down and bitten instead." said Michael.

"Then what do you suggest, jump out of the window?" asked Dan jokingly.

"That's it Dan, you are a genius!" said Xander running to the window.

"Well that's the first time anyone said that to Dan," interrupted Shiela.

"Huh? I was just joking you know, none of us is Superman or Spiderman, or are you?"

"You know, jumping down two stories high might break our legs" said Michael.

"No look in here." He glances from the window underneath. "We can walk at the edge below the window, it looks like we can walk in it with half of our feet in land, and enter the window of the other classroom at the end," suggested Xander.

"I…I'm kinda afraid of heights so… can we just… stick to my plan?" asked Eddie in a shaky voice. He was just about to smash the windows – an armchair readied at shoulder level.

"Umm… guys, the door is almost being destroyed," said Hitomi. "Just decide on something; fast!"

"Anyone in favor of Xander's plan hands up," said Michael; all hands were up except Eddie's.

Xander said "Ok, Dan you go first then the two ladies, we three will then follow, we will just hold this barricade more so it won't get destroyed easily,"

A familiar distracting growl was heard from the outside that made them shudder.

"Anyone heard that? It's like the one from yesterday at the baseball club locker room," said Hitomi.

"And the one I saw and heard also," added Eddie.

"It just says we should get going," said Michael as he pushed the shelf.

"Whoa… you understand zombie language? Cool…" said Dan.

"D…Dan! H..hurry u…up I…I can't hold this… barricade much longer" said Xander trying to speak while pushing the barricade. Eddie dropped the armchair and came to help them.

Dan broke the glass window with a chair. "Why did you do that? We can just slide it open," said Shiela, her eyebrows almost connecting.

"It's… much cooler this way," said Dan with a manly voice. "Eddie you go next after these two ladies, you are 'The Zombie Exterminator' right? You can do this."

"Finally you said something which makes sense," said Shiela.

Dan led the way and walked along the edge slowly. "Don't look down," he said but he looked down himself and got dizzy and almost fell, but Shiela held his head and slammed his face into the wall.

"Th..the..thenk kyou.." he said sounding like he had a cold.

"Eddie you next," said Xander.

"B…b…but"

"You're going to exterminate… all of the zombies? Y...you should not die… in a place like this,"

"Y…yeah" and Eddie ran towards the window, he placed his wooden stick to his back pack.

"You're next Xander," said Michael.

"N…no I…I insist… you go next."

"You don't have to be hero every time; you've already contributed a plan."

"But…" said Xander, as the infected students kept slamming the door.

"Look, I have bigger muscles, I can take care of this myself, and who's going to take care of the anime-girl if you're dead?" muttered Michael as he put on a stance far greater and bolder than what he usually was.

"Ok, but promise me you will follow us. I'll fortify the door with these chairs so those infected student's won't go directly to the window," said Xander nervously. Michael managed to let out a smile. Xander rushed and placed chairs in front of the windows blocking the direct path.

"Farewell…" said Michael silently as he turned and glanced at the back of Xander who was going out of the window. The infected ones broke the window glass of the door and were slamming it harder.

Another ferocious growl was heard from outside the classroom, but it sounded like it was going away.

Xander slipped the bat into his waistband. He then slowly positioned his feet to the edge. He saw that the others were almost at halfway their journey, but Eddie was somewhat lagging.

They were now at the end of the building's classroom. "Don't break it. They might hear us," said Shiela silently.

"Ok, ok…" said Dan lazily as he slowly opened the window and goes inside the room, followed by Hitomi and Shiela.

Now when the two girls got inside, Dan flipped on his heels and parked himself right in front of Hitomi, his right hand extended. "Hi, I'm Daniel Stringer. They say I'm the hottest guy around here. What's your name?" said Dan silently and smiled at Hitomi.

"Who said you are the hottest guy yuck…" said Shiela with a sound of disgust.

"Ah… I'm Hitomi Sanada, second year student of culinary arts," said Hitomi modestly.

"Whoa… a girl chef… that's cool I love chefs, I love foods and I love y..." and a fearsome growl outside the classroom interrupted him, it sounded so close, like it just passed by.

"Shhh… hear that? It's creeping me out…" said Shiela.

"Don't worry, if you two are scared you can always hug me."

"Can you stop joking around, we're in a serious situation here!" said Shiela silently but in a high tone.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot," said Dan while remembering what Eddie told him, that they should not make Shiela angry anymore because she knows karate.

Eddie had come inside the room panting and covered with sweat. "So did you looked down?" asked Dan.

"Of course not, I might've fell," said Eddie catching his breath.

"At least we know who is smarter between you two," said Shiela silently to Hitomi.

"Where's Xander and the other guy?" asked Dan to Eddie.

"I saw Xander just a few steps behind me but the other guy, no…"

"I wish I'm wrong on what I'm thinking," Shiela interrupted.

"Here's Xander," said Hitomi happily, after seeing Xander come in from outside the window and greeted him with a hug. Xander's face turned red again.

"Wish I was the one after Eddie…"

"Well enough for the sweet greetings, where is the other guy that accompanied you?" asked Shiela.

Xander looked outside the window but Michael was still out of sight. He fell silent.

"Almost all the infected students are walking into that classroom. So the stairs leading to the first floor is clear. We just have to face off some new ones said Eddie after peeping to the door's window glass.

"Xander, this is our chance. Don't let that guy's life be of waste!" said Shiela seriously.

"We need something to distract them and let them walk away from the stairs. From what I've read of 'How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse', they are easily attracted to sound," said Eddie.

"Noise… use my book. Throw it somewhere –" suggested Dan.

"That wouldn't even land far from here," said Shiela.

Xander recalled that he had a baseball kept in his pocket. He slightly opened the door and threw it, hitting the wooden wall. The infected students near the stairs reacted and looked for the source of sound. Not letting the chance pass, the group ran downstairs. They were confronted with a few infected students.

"Dan! Lead the way, Hitomi! Shiela! Follow Dan! Don't mind the infected ones; me and Eddie will be your shield, hurry!" They dodged and hit the incoming infected students.

"The car park is just ahead I can see it!" said Dan while running. They saw another group of students who was trying to open a car. Apparently they don't have its key, and one of them was bitten. The other two was fighting off incoming infected students with floor mops. Unfortunately it was broken and they were devoured.

"No! Don't bite me! HELP! "

Hitomi tripped from a rock planted on the ground and fell from her feet.

"Ouch! Leave! Go on without me!" she shouted.

"NO!" Xander bellowed. "Eddie carry Hitomi to the van, I'll be the decoy." He then ran at the left side far away were Hitomi and Eddie is. He shouted as loud as he could.

"HERE I AM! COME AND GET ME!" They followed the sound and walked towards him, staggering at every step.

"Tch… they're a bit fast even while walking," said Xander to himself. He dodged an infected student who jumped at him only to fall to the ground as he lost his balance.

He was unable to stand up quickly as another one closed unto him. Then the infected student's head in front of him was crushed by another baseball bat behind it. Blood came out of its mouth, splattering on Xander's shirt and the ground.

"Still acting hero aren't we?" said a familiar voice. As the infected student's body slid downwards, he saw a very familiar face.

"Michael!" said Xander gladly.

"Heh… I told you I have bigger muscles," said Michael beaming at him, and offering his hand.

"Thanks, I owe you one," said Xander while wiping off the blood on his face.

"Just returning the favor," said Michael. "So, what now? How do you propose we kill these things? You shouldn't have yelled at them," and he slapped Xander at the back of his head.

"Well, it's the only thing I can think of to save Hitomi."

"Hehe… You really like that girl huh?! I won't lose to you. Anyway we're here, so let's take down as many as we can shall we?" said Michael with excitement.

"Yeah, let's go." They ran and hit the closest infected student.

"That's one!" said Michael after crushing the head of an infected student.

"Whoa… they keep on coming…" said Xander nervously; he didn't notice that someone almost jumped at him from behind.

"Xander, behind you!" warned Michael. An arrow flew and directly hit the head of the infected student.

"Looks like you boys are having fun," yelled the girl, standing at the branch of the tree. She sounded almost fearless. She wore a robe like those players from the archery club. Her face was hidden by the shades of the tree's leaves. She shot more arrows, and directly hit the infected students at the head, taking them down one by one.

"Whoa… she's really good at it," said Michael, amazed as he watched the bodies fall one by one with every lethal shot.

"Ah there is my sweet van!" said Dan happily. It was a 1968 Chevy Van that looked like the mystery machine in Scooby-Doo. "Wait where is my key… key… key..." He looked for it in his pockets and bag.

"Here is my sweet key," he found it inside his bag covered with his books."Come inside quick!" he said after opening the back door. He rushed to open the driver's door at front.

Eddie, Hitomi and Shiela were now inside the back of the van. The inside of the van was a bit spacious; it didn't have any chairs to sit on, and there were 2 bicycles and posters of racing cars on the wall. It had a door on top, but no windows.

"How about Xander?" exclaimed Hitomi. "He risked his life for me!"

"Don't worry. I'll drive this van to where Xander is. We will not leave until we got him," said Dan calmly.

"Hitomi… he might be our resident idiot but I'll vouch for his driving skills." Shiela then tapped on Hitomi's shoulders, calming her. In the front seat however, Dan was manhandling his steering wheel; the van backed up at such a speed that a nice, resounding crash told them he'd slew some infected ones.

Xander and Michael were still fighting with the help of the girl archer on the tree's branch.

"She's really good at this," said Xander after hitting an incoming infested student.

"Quick, get into the van!" shouted the girl as she climbed down the tree and ran towards them. "Let's talk later. We need to get out of here. There are more of those coming!"

A ferocious growl was heard from the creature on the second floor, followed by a thud and a mini crater where it landed on the soft ground. It still had that vague representation of a human's anatomy, though it would be bald if not for some stray strands of hair falling off its shoulders. Try as it might, its spine couldn't be straightened, forcing it to crouch with two hands on the ground. Ghastly pale and hideous – no creature of its kind should roam the earth. As if daring Nature to open a gap below its foot and cancel its existence, it cast a stare so piercing through bloodshot eyes.

It growled again as if it was a battle cry. More infected students were coming out of the building, some fell from above but are still able to stand up, and the other group who was bitten recently was now one of them.

"So they really become one of them after getting bitten," said Xander looking at the infected students.

"You mean this is the first time you saw this happen?" asked Michael in disbelief.

"It seems so, anyway let's run," said the girl. They rushed to where the van is, hitting some infected students that blocked them.

"Xander!" exclaimed Hitomi as the van's back door sprung open, Xander and the girl got inside but Michael was still fighting some of the infected students.

"Michael! Don't mind them anymore. Run!" shouted Xander. The girl hit the infected student's head with her arrow; Michael ran as fast as he could but one infected student lying at the ground caught his feet and was tackled to the ground.

"Leave me!" shouted Michael. Eddie held Xander's arm tightly because he was trying to jump off.

"NO!"

Dan drove the car away, going to the exit for the cars. "He is a goner," said Eddie to Xander.

Michael continually kicked the infected student who got his leg, and eventually it loosened its grip. He smashed its head with his baseball bat but unfortunately the creature lunged at him; it was too late to react and defend himself. "Maybe this is it…" he said weakly and he closed his eyes.


	5. Chapter 5 Escape from School

Chapter V: Escape from School

Flashes of scenes soared in her mind; it seemed that it was all memories from her past.

"You did it again! Another A+," said the little school girl beside her chair. "Wish I have your brain," the girl gave her a friendly smile.

She didn't notice right away that the scene had changed. She was no longer in a classroom of grade school students, but in an elegant dining room where everyone wore their formal attire, and many couples were dancing at the middle.

"'You look so pretty without those glasses," said the girl whose lovely features were not tarnished by her simple gown. A couple of guys tried to ask the girl for a dance but she turned all of them down. "Uhm… "I'm sorry" she said

"Anyway, try to ask his opinion. Oh! Here he comes." Two guys were approaching them, one had his hair all spiked up and the other looked like a character from an anime series.

"You know the moment I saw you, I thought I was in heaven," said the spiky-haired guy. He gave the girl a single rose and took her hands.

The beautiful girl stood up and whispered to him, "You're lucky I want them to be alone." The two headed for the middle of the room and danced.

"The food here is delicious, Have you sampled them?" the other guy asked and sat beside her, nursing a delectable looking chocolate pudding.

"Umm… h…how do I look?" Before the guy could answer, she heard two men talking to each other. She opened her eye, and saw a bright fluorescent lamp above the ceiling. Confused about her own whereabouts, she raised herself to a sitting position, but couldn't because of the straps that binded her.

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Michael heard a rough bashing sound above him. The creature that jumped at him was sent flying far from where he was sitting. "I didn't know… hah… hah... you give up easily," said a familiar voice panting behind him. He turned around and saw an exhausted Xander who was doubling over, both arms gripping his knees. His baseball bat lay untouched on the ground.

"This is… hah… hah… the first time I ran… hah… hah… that fast," said Xander while catching his breath, He was sporting a pair of wounded arms and a scratched face. One could have mistaken Xander for trying to jump out of the van just now.

Michael smirked and said, "I won't say you shouldn't come back for me… thanks." Xander reached for Michael's extended hand and pulled him up. "I owe you one – again."

"Can you…hah…hah…still run?" asked Xander.

"I should be the one asking that," said Michael looking at a rather pallid Xander who was breathing heavily.

"Let's us TWO...hah... hah… go… to the van together… hah… hah," said Xander. The word "two" was emphasized even as Xander desperately drew air between his teeth.

"What makes you think they'll be coming –"

Something rumbling behind them made Michael stop talking and squint at the faraway speck.

"Now I'll make sure it's so close to them," said Dan who sounded like he was enjoying himself.

The back of the van was open and the archer girl kept firing arrows to incoming infected students behind Xander and Michael.

"You surely messed that up," said Dan while looking back at the creature that could hardly get up; it seemed like its right arm was broken. The creature roared out of immense pain and used its uninjured left arm for leverage instead.

"Serves you right!" said Michael while running towards the van.

The van was almost closing on them so they jumped. Michael successfully got inside the van but Xander was caught by another one of the creature**s** by the feet. It was _so_ close – the tip of his finger brushed the van's framework but that was all so close could take him. Xander missed and he fell face first into the ground.

The creature growled angrily, trying to take revenge; it showed off his fangs and was ready to bite Xander's leg. The archer aimed at the creature's head.

She fired her arrow with such vigour it made a clean pierce through its back. Xander's feet were released from its lax grip; its owner was now a disgusting heap of bleeding mass but most importantly, it was dead. Michael and Eddie got out and carried Xander to the van as the girl continued to fire her arrows to fresh hordes of infected students. Dan immediately accelerated the van and head for the exit.

Xander stole a peek at the silent archer. "I'm indebted, miss. What's your name?"

"Cassandra Bell – second year student and a member of the Archery Club."

"Can we call you Cass?" Shiela asked suddenly.

"Whatever you like." Then she took a seat at a corner of the van, far from the others before closing her eyes. Shiela who was watching her all the time mouthed, "A serious one, huh?"

"Well, I think she's kinda cute," Eddie quipped, appraising the outwardly sleeping form with obvious interest.

"Looks like we have two lover boys here," said Michael as he looked at Hitomi and Xander.

Xander was blushing while Hitomi mend his wound with a first aid kit. A teardrop seeped from her eyelid, only to drip into one of Xander's open wounds – courtesy of a creature's claw.

"Ouch!"

"I… I'm sorry!" Hitomi hastily dabbed at her cheeks with her sleeves.

"It's ok now, Hitomi. Every… WE FORGOT ABOUT BRENDA!" Shiela remembered. "We were so caught up with escaping we forgot to look for her! Dan, let's go back to school!"

"No," Michael interjected. "We almost _died _running away from that wretched place! Look at Xander', he's your friend too, right? You think he can fight with all those injuries?"

Shiela looked at the others. Surely they seem to be so tired; even she felt she needed to settle down for a bit. She sat on the floor, crying, "S…sorry Brenda we weren't able to save you…" and she cried even harder.

Michael glanced at her with pity in his eyes. "So, where do we go now?" asked Dan while driving.

Michael stood near the back of Dan's driver's seat and asked "Do you know Fire Place? It's a store selling ammo – my Uncle's running it. We can get real weapons there."

"Ah… nope…" Dan deadpanned.

"I'll show you the way. Go left at Apple's Café is just straight from here then…"

"Are you ok Xander? Does this hurt?" asked Hitomi while putting some ointment on Xander's wounds.

"It's not that deep, I just – ow – fell from the van badly," answered Xander as he stared at Hitomi while she place bandages to his feet.

"Why don't you kiss those wounds, see if they'll heal," Shiela suggested.

"What's wrong with you being so bitter and such?" asked Xander.

"You can say that to yourself! Brenda is out there hiding from those things and you're here enjoying that… that flirt's care!"

"Don't call Hitomi that!"

"Oh, so now you're defending her! You've just met and now you're raising your voice at me like I'm not your OLD friend!"

"W…wait you two…" said Hitomi trying to cool them down.

"Shut up!" She then turned to shoot another venomous glare at Xander. "You know, Brenda really liked you. She was just afraid to tell you 'cause you might hate her for her geeky appearance. She knows you only like girls like her," Shiela jabbed a bony forefinger at Hitomi, "and actresses from those stupid series you always watch!"

Xander was shocked that his childhood friend actually liked him; he didn't really notice her – he never even _looked_ at her like any other potential girls he could like.

He wasn't able to say anything because he knew deep down Shiela was correct. He was so into appearances that he forgot to look at somebody's heart first. He also remembered that Brenda asked him what he thinks about her. Being the dunderhead he was, he thought she was joking and ended up telling her jokingly, "Oh, I forgot you are a girl!"

"Of course you didn't notice. You're so insensitive!"

The van slowed down and stopped. "We're running out of gas. There's still some left but not enough to bring us to the store so someone should get us bottled diesel."

Eddie slammed his wooden stick at the floor and said, "Sounds like you need the 'Zombie Exterminator'. I know where the station is."

"I'll go too," said Xander, pushing himself up with his arms.

"No! You're still weak; I'll go instead," Michael offered. "You five stay here. Don't go outside until we come back."

"Ok, be safe," said Dan immediately who didn't want them to turn back anymore.

Eddie and Michael got off the van and set off, riding the bicycle from Dan's van.

The van was quiet when the two left. Xander was brewing sympathy for his childhood friend; he even remembered the times Brenda and he played together when they were just kids, and how she helped him in his assignments. As he ran through all those memories in his exhausted mind, sleep beckoned and he relented. Hitomi nestled quietly in between him and Dan.

It was already dark but the streetlights were all off, and they have only the moon to borrow light from. Shiela woke up and crept out of the cramped van. She decided to go back to school and looked for Brenda without saying a word to the others. A deep womanly voice from above the van spoke.

"There are lots of stars in the sky tonight, I wonder if they are more than the people still living today…"

Shiela looked up and saw Cass, sitting on the van's roof in a meditating position, watching the sky. "Don't worry, I won't tell the others," said Cass. "But I'm sure they'd be sad if they lose another friend, especially the one you just quarrelled with earlier."

Shiela realized that what Michael and Cass said was true; they hardly got out of the school alive, and if she would go back all by herself, what more would happen?

"I… I… just want to get some air," said Shiela as she leaned against the van. Tears fell from her eyes while she too gazed upon the stars.

"It's normal to feel that way," said Cass, who seemed that she knew what Shiela planned to do earlier.

"D… did you also lose your friends?" asked Shiela, wiping the tears flowing from her eyes.

"We should start thinking of a plan to get out of here. Night is growing old and those two still haven't come back," said Cass, ignoring the prying question.

"Yes… you're right, wait I'll wake up the others."

…..

"Umm… Hitomi please…" Dan mumbled in his sleep and hugged Xander.

Xander still felt sluggish as he felt someone hugging him – he was only half awake after all. But if those slender arms slinking around his body were Hitomi's, he was more than happy to reciprocate. So he stretched a hand and held the form by its shoulder; another on its waist.

So Hitomi was responding, Dan thought cheekily. He hooked a finger under "her" chin and inched closer, wanting to taste the sweetness of "her" lips. Xander did not expect Hitomi to be this aggressive so he opened his eyes – and Dan was _this _close to kissing him. Shiela just had to barge in at that critical moment and was, needless to say, shocked (probably traumatized). Xander pushed Dan aside but to no avail; the latter was holding him real tight.

"Just this once, Hitomi! Please!" Fearing for his dignity, Xander butted his head against Dan's and their simultaneous "ARGH!" woke Hitomi up.

"What's happening?" asked Dan, frustrated that his dream was cut off. "I almost kissed Hitomi you know!"

"Kiss Hitomi YOUR FACE! YOU ALMOST KISSED ME!" said Xander furiously. "AND THAT WOULD'VE BEEN MY FIRST KISS! AND TO A BOY! YUCK!"

"I'm a good kisser for your information, you would've liked it!"

"YUCK! I don't care!"

"What happened?" asked Hitomi, slightly giggling.

"I was out for some air and when I come back, these two… they're doing something ewwy! " said Shiela.

"I'm telling you I'm dreaming of Hitomi!"

"Well? How about you?" asked Shiela staring suspiciously at Xander.

"I… I… really don't know what happened," answered Xander sounding like he was lying.

"Well I suggest you should stay away from these two perverts…" said Shiela staring at Xander and Dan.

The door sprung open. "Oh, you all looked like you've regained your strength. Get ready because Eddie and Michael are rushing towards here with diesel and some more guests"


	6. Chapter 6 The Unexpected

Chapter VI: The Unexpected

"You shouldn't have approached that guy!" bellowed Eddie to Michael while kicking his bike as fast as he could.

"I didn't know! He looked very normal at first, I didn't also see any bites on his skin," answered Michael, "and you should've said you really don't know exactly where the gas station is!" he added.

"If I became one of them, I'll tear you apart!" Eddie retorted.

"Then do so! I'll crush your head!" shouted Michael "WHEN DID THEY EVEN LEARN HOW TO RUN FAST!" he added.

"They are of the 'runner' type zombies!" answered Eddie sounding like he knew everything.

"There's the van!" said Michael. "Thankfully they saw us and the backdoor's open! Let's directly jump over with our bikes."

An arrow flew and scratched Eddie's cheek before hitting one of the "runners".

"I'M STILL NORMAL!" shouted Eddie grudgingly to Cass. They both jumped directly into the van's back. Xander and Shiela immediately closed the backdoor.

"DRIVE!" shouted Michael.

The van still had some diesel left because Dan stopped it earlier. He ran over two infected citizens. Cass lifted the ledge on the van's ceiling and poked her head out into open air. As she stood on Xander's shoulders further supported by Shield and Hitomi, she fired her arrows like there was no tomorrow. She hit two "runners" - only three more remaining. Dan turned left and Cass missed her target.

"SOME WARNING PLEASE BEFORE YOU TURN!" yelled Cass, and then she hit another one.

"SORRY! We're running out of gas here!" said Dan.

"TWO MORE!" shouted Cass. "ONE MORE LEFT!" The runner caught up and landed on the roof of the van.

"Pull me down!" said Cass, and she closed the door on top. The "runner" growled wildly as it kept pounding the top. The van decelerated and stopped.

"Sorry guys we're out of gas…" said Dan weakly.

"Someone should go outside and fight that creature," Shiela suggested.

"Let's crush them!" said Eddie and punched his other hand.

"Thought you were going to grab the spotlight," said Michael grinning. They got their baseball clubs and wooden stick. "Dan, you should be the one to fill your van with diesel."

"OK, ready 1… 2…" He opened the door, and they ran outside leaving Dan behind.

"W… wait where's 3?" said Dan, then he followed them.

"Close the door immediately after we go out," said Xander to Shiela.

"Ok," said Shiela.

The runner snarled viciously after seeing the crowd, it stopped pounding the van.

"You there stop messing with my beautiful van!" shouted Dan while pointing the diesel container to the "runner".

The "runner" jumped to him, Dan dodged backwards.

"You idiot! I told you, fill this van with diesel, you almost broke one of the containers!" said Michael furiously running to Dan and swinging his bat wildly.

"Oh, sorry…" Dan chuckled. "Everyone cover me!"

The "runner" jumped again to Dan but was hit by Michael's bat. It retreated to a near store. The other "runners" were catching up to them from behind.

"Look at those two other 'runners'," said Eddie pointing out the incoming "runners".

"It's really a pain when they growl like that," said Michael. "They're calling their comrades. ATTACK!"

Xander ran towards the retreating "runner" and it attacked also; it jumped towards him and was hit cleanly on the head and thrown a few meters back.

"You're getting the hang of this," said Michael complimenting Xander.

Xander replied, "It's just that their movements don't change, they just jumped and…" another creature jumped towards Xander which looked like it came above the store's wall. This was a different one; it had sharper claws and was trying to confiscate Xander's bat. Its pupil-less eyes were completely covered with blood, its nose kept sniffing him like a dog, and had two large front fangs that would surely pierce through its prey. Its head was bald like the other "runners" with some strands of hair falling from its face.

An arrow pierced through its bloodshot eyes from the back. Blood dripped at the head of the arrow and it dropped on Xander's cheeks. It shrieked out in pain, but it was still alive; another arrow was about to pierce the creature's head but it looked back, twitching it's neck like there's no bone and it dodged, jumped and crawled to the wall of the store like a spider and entered one of the windows. The arrow hit the ground and was three centimetres away from Xander's left ear.

"Th… that was close… thank you…" said Xander and he sighed.

"There are more coming!" Eddie warned.

"IS IT READY, DAN?" shouted Michael.

"Yeah, hop in quick!" The back door of the van was opened by Shiela and Hitomi.

"QUICK!" shouted Hitomi.

They got inside the van and Dan immediately drove fast. He evaded a car skilfully that was about to hit them. Cass was once again on top firing arrows to the incoming "runners". It seemed that they couldn't catch up with the speed of the van; eventually they lost sight of it.

"YEAH!" said Dan with a victorious shout. "I'm the king of the roads!"

"So what really happened back at the gas station?" asked Xander.

"We really thought there was nobody at the gasoline station then," said Michael but was cut off by Eddie. "Th… that was a new type of zombie… I... can't even call it a zombie anymore… it's not in the book I read… no, wait, I'll look into it again…" and he took out "How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse", scanning for a word, something like a wall crawler. He didn't see anything. "I… It… didn't even die from the arrow that pierced its head," Eddie ended; he was sweating heavily.

"Are you ok, Eddie?" asked Shiela.

"Ok? After seeing that kind of zombie, you're asking me if I'm ok? OF COURSE NOT! Ha... haha… haha…"

"Guys… I think he's really freaking out…"

"I'm more than OK! To think that the author didn't thought of it! After I exterminate all those zombies I'll make my own book!" said Eddie getting all excited. "I'll name it the Exterminator's… err… no… no… 'Guide to Mr. Zombie Exterminator's…' well that's quite long… what about…."

"He's really is a zombie fan," said Hitomi.

"Michael, we're here," said Dan. He stopped the van at the front of the store.

They all went outside. Fire Place was a small single-storey store, its interior could be seen through a glass window that was now broken. It was at the edge of the city's establishments. Michael opened the door using a duplicate key he got from his uncle. Glasses were scattered on the floor. The glass containers of guns and other ammos for sale were completely empty, even the displayed guns at the walls at the back of the counter were missing.

"Uncle?" Michael called out while examining the place. "It's me, Michael!" he added. He had already anticipated this; because of the outbreak more people were trying to get as many weapons. Despite that, he did not expect a completely wiped-out store upon arrival. He still continued "Uncle! Where are you?"

He knew that his uncle only leaves the store on rare, special family occasions; he kept convincing himself that what he imagined was not true.

"There's someone lying here!" said Dan looking concerned on the cold body. The second room was apparently a room for other stocks, but was also completely empty.

"UNCLE!" shouted Michael. He came immediately to his uncle's corpse and turned it around; his uncle was wearing polo with opened buttons and a plain white t-shirt inside. He saw blood stains on his uncle's shirt. He ripped it off and saw a bullet wound on his uncle's stomach.

He still tried to wake him up. "I'm here, open your eyes! We need your help! You can't be dead! Don't leave me please!" His tears were almost falling from his eyes but he held them in. He remembered what his uncle usually told him in his childhood years when he lost his parents and other family members.

"Don't cry. You'll just make them sad when they leave. They'll be going to a very great place, so don't worry." Gathering his courage to face what happened he buttoned his uncle's polo, and saw a white paper peeking out of his Uncle's polo pocket

It contained a message for him, saying " Go to our underground basement and open the old refrigerator, there are guns and ammos there, it's a bit sudden, sorry for leaving you, but remember what I always tell you and be brave."

"Sorry…" said Hitomi tapping Michael at the back.

Michael stood up and carefully placed his uncle in a sitting position leaning against a wall. "Everyone, follow me," said Michael walking to the underground basement. It was completely dark so he switched on a light bulb at the ceiling. It was quite dirty, there were spider webs at almost every corner, and a mouse just passed by Shiela's feet and she almost jumped and hugged Dan and let out a scream.

"Just as I thought – you like me," said Dan while Shiela was looking at the ground, cautious if the mouse was still around. Then she slapped Dan in the face. "Pervert!" she said.

"You were the one who hugged me!" said Dan defensively. Xander and Hitomi laughed.

"Here it is," said Michael as he opened the old refrigerator packed with guns and ammos. Eddie immediately came forward and looked for a decent gun.

"Whoa… an actual AK-47! I usually use this in my favourite game! I always get a headshot from these - Now I'll definitely EXTERMINATE them all!" said Eddie sounding so fascinated.

"Since Eddie got the AK-47, I'll be taking this Stealth Recon Scout, I have been taught to use this, so it won't be a problem," said Michael.

"I'll take this shotgun," said Dan looking at the hole of the gun gauge.

"That's a Remington 1100 Tactical Shotgun. It holds 8 rounds in the magazine, and you better be careful or your head might get blown." said Michael.

Dan immediately took off his eyes on the hole of the shotgun. "I… I'll be taking this…" said Shiela holding and examining the submachine gun.

"That's an Uzi. Try not to fire it continually because it has a high rate ammo expenditure," said Michael.

"You really know a lot about guns. How about this?" asked Xander holding a small gun he found inside a wallet size box.

"That's… a custom made derringer my uncle copied of Henry Deringer's Philadelphia Derringer. It's a pocket pistol; you can shoot with it three times. Try to take out the bottom layer of the box. There are a couple of ammos there. Anyway you can also have this Glock handgun. We have more ammos of this kind than that," said Michael.

"Oh… I think you should keep this. It's a memory of your uncle," said Xander while handing out the derringer.

"No, it'll just be too hard for me to let go of him if I hold unto that," said Michael, pushing the Glock back to Xander. "Keep that derringer to your pocket. This Glock will be your primary," he added.

"This is everything that's left, it's ok Hitomi, and we'll just defend you. Cass, I think my uncle has a crossbow here somewhere…" said Michael, searching the room.

"No need. I'll stick with my bow here. I'm more used to it," said Cass.

"There are Steel Force Broadheads you can use for your arrows. It's originally for the crossbow's bolt heads," said Michael handing out a pack from the freezers where the ammos are also kept. "Here are all the ammos; place them inside Dan's backpack. I'll show you the appropriate bullets for your guns inside the van," he added. The others came back to the van but Michael was still inside the store.

"Where's Michael?" asked Shiela.

"I think he's still inside. I'll go back and check on him."

Michael carried his uncle to the old bench down the basement and said, "Sorry… I'll be coming back to give you a decent burial after this chaos ends." Then he hugged his uncle; Xander who was peeking upstairs decided to go back to the van.

"Did you see him?" asked Shiela

"Ah, yes, he forgot something," replied Xander. "In the meantime we should be deciding our next destination. Does anyone of you have a house near here?" he asked.

"Umm… my house is just straight ahead about five hundred meters from here. I'll show you the way…" said Hitomi shyly, then Michael entered the van and closed the door.

"At Hitomi's house?" said Dan sounding so excited; he closed his eyes and tried to imagine something.

"Stop day dreaming Dan and start driving," said Shiela.

"So, where are we going?" asked Michael while he sat down and opened Dan's bag.

"To Hitomi's house," answered Shiela, and then her stomach gave a grumbling sound to which she blushed.

"Don't worry, Shiela. I'll cook for all of you. It's the least I can do," said Hitomi cheerfully. She stood at the back of Dan's seat. "I'll tell you to stop if we're there."

"Ok. At last I'll be able to taste Hitomi's heavenly cooking," said Dan.

"I… I'm not really that good."

Michael was instructing how the guns were used and what bullets were suitable.

"Are we there yet?" asked Xander, who was also excited but tried not to show it.

"We are now six blocks away from my house," answered Hitomi.

"I can see some of those things again. We should avoid being noticed. Hitomi's house might be destroyed," said Xander.

"As always; a very good insight." Dan parked the van three blocks away.

"How about your family Hitomi?" asked Michael.

"I'm the only child… My parents are living in Japan, so I'm alone here."

"Don't worry Hitomi. From now on I'll be by your side," said Dan bluntly.

"A… Anyway do you have a backdoor to your house? We could go there instead of the front door," interrupted Xander sounding like he was jealous; he had a hard time looking at Hitomi.

"Hah! I knew it! You like Hitomi too! But you are too shy to reveal it! I'll definitely win this!" said Dan with triumphantly. Hitomi blushed and looked at Xander.

Xander was lost for words and eventually pointed his finger at the road saying, "You should be concentrating on the road, Dan".

"Heh… coward," muttered Dan silently. Meanwhile Eddie was so fascinated with his AK-47; he even kissed and shined it repeatedly with his handkerchief. Cass was sitting silently at the corner; she was replacing the arrow heads with the one she got from Michael. The van stopped.

"Come on. Let's go," said Xander. On the road there were five infected citizens and were walking unsteadily, aimlessly. Eddie was ready to shoot but Michael stopped him.

"We need to be as silent as possible. We don't want more to know we're here," said Michael while he lowered Eddie's gun.

"Uh… yeah… you're right…"

They then silently run towards to the other houses.


	7. Chapter 7 A Short Break

Chapter VII: A short break

As Night covered the sky, the group arrived at Hitomi's village. It was composed of different residences, from the outcome of the epidemic it was no longer like the sweet home everyone had. Some of the houses were destroyed, lots of blood was spilled, windows and doors were broken, and it was like there were no longer normal people breathing in the town.

"It really looks like the end of the world now…" said Dan as he looked at the different houses.

"Shh…" said Cass; she raised a hand, effectively stopping the others behind her in their tracks.

They peek at the side of a car, leaning against it. There were five infected people staggering with every step, some were coughing blood, and others were collapsing to the ground.

"They look like they really don't know what they're doing," whispered Shiela.

Cass shot an arrow to the other car on their left. Its alarm was activated and naturally the din caught the attention of the infected people.

"What was that for?" screeched Dan. Apparently he didn't get the idea. The infected people were now walking towards the car.

Xander, quick on the uptake, yelled, "Nice one! This is our chance, run!"

They ran towards the back of Hitomi's house with Hitomi in the lead. It was a two storey house, big enough for a single person. Contemporarily designed and crafted, much was not seen because of the darkness of the night.

"Are you sure you're the only one living here?" asked Dan.

"Yeah… but my parents stay here every vacation so, we have three rooms, a guest room, my parent's and mine."

"I wonder how cute Hitomi's room is," said Dan dreamily.

"Hey! That's private for us girls, so no boys allowed, right Hitomi?" said Shiela immediately. Silently she threw a mischievous wink at the other girl.

"Uh… yeah."

Ignoring Dan's disappointed pout, Hitomi opened the back door of her house.

The interior was quite simple, it didn't have any ornaments or fancy figurines, and the wallpaper was plain pink. She led the way to the entertainment room.

"Please wait for me here, I'll call you to the dining room after we have prepared for the food." She then switched on the dim light. The entertainment room was spacious; it had a 50 inch flat screen TV, with big stereos, DVD player, and a comfortable sofa.

"Dude… look at this stuff…." said Eddie as his fingertips worship the extravagant TV.

"You said it…. We? Got a maid?" asked Dan while he make himself at home in the comfy sofa.

"I told you, I live alone." And out of the blue, Hitomi just grabbed Shiela and Cass' wrists by surprise. Paying absolutely no heed to their bewilderment, she closed the door.

"So this is a home theater, Hitomi's family is sure well off," said Xander, as he surveyed the room.

Suddenly remembering the infected people's craze on the other side of the wall, Eddie warned, "We should not use it anyway since we might attract a whole horde of infected people." And as if to emphasize on his words, he took his gun out and wiped at the nozzle with unnecessary vigour.

"You know, we could use that as a mirror by now," said Dan and looked at Eddie's AK-47.

The door opened and Hitomi appeared. Not expecting the pretty girl to don a girly pink apron with lots of flower scattered on it, their jaw dropped.

"I forgot to tell you, this room is completely sound proof. I'll on it for you. Hmm… cable channels are not on air. I have different movies in that cabinet, just insert it in the DVD player, and press this button here then it will play, don't mind the other sound devices it will automatically operate once the TV and DVD player are on. If everything's okay I'll be going back to the kitchen now."

Even after her leaving, the vivid imagery of Hitomi's prettiness lingered in the room.

"Whoa… She's really cute…" Michael smirked.

"Yeah…." Xander and Dan echoed.

"I'm totally into her… you may have the ace now, but I won't give up," said Dan as he look at Xander seriously, who was out of words again. "You are so boring, haha! Well that's you, anyway let's have a friendly competition. May the best man win."

Then he raised his hand for a shake but someone else grabbed it.

"Yeah, may the best man win" said Michael grinning while holding Dan's hand. Xander was surprised and looked at the two of them. "Looks like Mr. Lover boy here got two rivals," he added.

"Le- let's watch one of the movies here…" said Xander trying to change the topic.

"Are you serious?" whispered Dan but Michael just smiled.

"Hey! I'm asking you!"

…..

"So Hitomi, It's really a pain being so cute huh?" teased Shiela while she cut the green onions. Hitomi was quiet and kept chopping pork. "So who's the lucky guy? Hmm… let me guess… its Xander? Right? RIGHT?" she added.

"Aw…." Hitomi winced; she immediately sucked the blood from her fingers, and washed it with water in the sink.

"So it's Xander! Haha gotcha! You were so concerned for him back at our school, when he _courageously_ fighting those 'things' so they won't get to you. Even I would fall for that," said Shiela while washing some potatoes.

"S… so… do you like Xander too? I... I mean you're so gorgeous, I'll fall for you too if I were a guy, and y… you knew each other better…"

"Of course not. Xander is all yours, we're just friends, don't worry."

Hitomi laughed dryly.

"I think Shiela and Dan would be a great couple…" said Cass with her low voice.

"_What?_ Are you joking? Dan is a complete idiot," Shiela butted. Her face was now a brilliant sheen of red.

"But you are blushing!" teased Hitomi.

"Well I think Cass also likes someone from the group of boys out there," said Shiela defensively.

"Where did you say you put the blueberries?" Cass said loudly. Not waiting for an answer, she marched defiantly towards the refrigerator.

"It's at the lower part of the fridge," answered Hitomi while she decorated the sashimi and sushi plates.

"You two still haven't answered my question, it's unfair" Shiela fumed.

……

The boys were watching a zombie apocalypse movie. After it ended Dan asked seriously "In our group, who do you think would survive in the end?" They all fell silent; an uneasy chill passed through their spines. They realized even in movies, not everyone would survive the apocalypse.

The door opened behind them. "Dinner is ready!" said Hitomi breaking the stillness. "You can now go on to the dining room, I'll o". The guys set off and went to the dining room silently, but someone stayed while Hitomi was turning off the appliances. When she turned around it was Xander looking at her seriously.

"W-why, are you still here Xander? Th - the food might get cold," Hitomi blushed and was unable to look at Xander's eyes squarely. He approached closer.

"I-I… rea-really… don't know why I'm still here b-but… I'll promise you… I'll protect everyone with everything I've got… e-especially y-you" said Xander with a very nervous voice, his heart was beating very fast.

"I… uhmm"

Xander touched her chin, and looked her directly in the eyes. She looked away but when their eyes finally met, so did their lips. Xander felt like Time had stopped, the surrounding was so quiet he could hear the very beat of his heart, he couldn't describe what he felt while their lips touched each other, he never felt this way before, it was like he didn't care about anything aside from them. Hitomi gently pushed him and said "I-I'll be heading on to the kitchen… I-I th-think I forgot something…" Her face was almost completely red.

"Hi-Hitomi… I'm so very sorry… I… wh-where's the toilet room?"

"I-It's… o-on the left side of this… room" Hitomi replied, her voice was shaking.

"I'm so…"

But Hitomi was already walking away. Angry in spite of himself, Xander entered the toilet and stared poisonously at the lone mirror. He could see his paper white self starring back at him.

"What did you just do? Now she's mad at you!"

And the wall shook as his fist met with the smooth, cold tiles.

"Whoerssshhh Shander?" said Dan while his mouth was filled with rice "Thishh frayd raishhhh tashhttee gooood!" he added.

"Thanks… th-that's called Char Siu Pork Fried Rice," Hitomi replied sheepishly.

"This is the very first time I've tasted pasta like this, you're a really great cook Hitomi!" said Michael. It was baked pasta rectangles filed with squashed potato, pumpkin, and bacon bits.

"Yeah it's all thanks to them…" said Hitomi but she fell silent as Xander entered the room.

Xander looked for a chair, he saw that Michael and Dan was seated at Hitomi's both sides, Cass was slicing the whole chicken. Eddie was eating like it was his last and not minding what the others are doing.

"Oh, there you are! We couldn't wait for you, buddy. Hungry stomachs wait for no one. Pull a chair!" said Shiela pointing her fork to the seat in front of Hitomi.

Xander looked at Hitomi who was trying not to look at him. He thought that she was really angry for what he had done a couple of minutes ago. He tried to act normally but still his voice was shaking "I…" he inhaled then said "I've just explored around Hito… the house" unable to say Hitomi's name.

"Wow, sushi and sashimi!" said Xander as he looked to Hitomi and to the food. "Itadakimasu!" said Xander as he placed different sushi and sashimi in his plate

"What's the Itadakimas… for?" asked Dan picking up what Xander placed in his plate.

"It's what Japanese people say before eating, r… right?" said Xander. He looked at Hitomi trying to get her approval but Hitomi merely just gave a silent nod.

"Hitomi made those since you love Japanese cuisine" replied Shiela, while Hitomi's face turned red even more.

"Is this oyster?" asked Michael while getting some.

"That's Kakifurai, it's a breaded and deep fried whole oyster, try to eat it with that Bulldog sauce, it'll be great," said Xander again still waiting for Hitomi to look at him and he added further "I… I really like this chicken," and he ate some. "For the taste, it's marinated with yogurt right?"

"You are some kind of a food enthusiast, I really didn't know…" said Shiela.

"Not really. It's just that my mom is also good at cooking" answered Xander, ate his dessert, and continued, "This blueberry cheese cake is like a product of a famous bakery."

"That's thanks to Cass," said Shiela.

"R- really you liked it?" asked Cass in her low voice.

"Yeah, no kidding!"

"It's like I'm eating in a restaurant now," said Dan while swallowing a large amount of rice. "Latch off gud fud," he choked, and pounded his chest. "Ughh-_Uwaaatteeerr_"

"Here you go," said Hitomi, she helped Dan drink the glass of ice tea. Then Michael coughed also acting like he choked himself, "I need water too" said Michael, but Shiela was the one who gave him water. Dan smirked and made a funny face to Michael behind Hitomi.

The plates on the table were empty, nothing was wasted. They all looked satisfied touching their bellies.

"Anyway where are we going next?" asked Dan.

"We should first vote for a leader in our group," answered Shiela.

"I'll vote for myself!" Dan offered. Shiela almost burst out laughing but held it in.

"I'll also vote for myself," said Eddie straightly. He stopped buffing his rifle for a couple of seconds, and continued again.

"I'll vote for Michael," said Xander and raised his hand at the air.

"I'll vote for Xander, anyone in favor?" asked Shiela looking at the others. Michael raised his hands.

"I'll just vote whoever has the most votes," said Cass.

Hitomi stood up and collected the empty plates. "I… I'll just place this in the sink" she said.

"What about your vote?" asked Shiela.

"I… just like Cass said," answered Hitomi then she entered the kitchen.

"That means Xander wins, so have your leadership speech, just say anything," said Shiela

"B – but… Michael's…" said Xander but was immediately cut off by Shiela, "Even he voted for you so, don't be shy."

"It's really not because I owe my life to you, but you've made a couple of plans for us to be still here," said Michael.

"I – I…" he looked at the faces of the people staring at him. "Th – thank you for believing in me, I'll really do my best to be a great leader," said Xander sounding so nervous. Hitomi came back from the kitchen, and seated back in her chair.

"S – so… anyone wants to go check on their families?" asked Xander.

"My family lives at the rural, it would be so… far from here," said Dan.

"How about you Cass?" asked Xander, his eyes gazed upon her.

"I'm definitely sure they are ok, so there's really no need," replied Cass bluntly as if she didn't want to talk about her family.

"Our houses are southeast from here, it's only about two to three hours to get there, so… I say let's go check on our houses since we're just neighbors," said Shiela.

"Two hours could possibly become five or more depending on the situation," said Cass

"Yeah you're quite right, so we need to gather resources, since we might have a long trip," replied Xander.

"Is there a grocery or supermarket near here?" asked Michael. He turned to face Hitomi.

"Oh… there's a mall, south from here,"

"Hah! Just like in any zombie apocalypse movies, the group always goes to a mall where they get things, but we need to be careful…" Eddie lowered his, whispering, "I'm sure we're not the only ones who would try to go to the mall," said Eddie and goes back to buffing his rifle.

"Since we now have real weapons we could also protect ourselves not only from those 'things' but also from bandits," said Michael.

"Ahehe… I really think we don't need a leader anymore," said Xander silently to himself.

"We should sleep tight, since we'll be tiring ourselves tomorrow, that's for sure…" said Shiela looking at Hitomi . "So can you lead us to our rooms?"

"Y… yes… there are 3 rooms the guys can have the 2 rooms and we girls will be sharing my room," said Hitomi as she got to her feet. "P… please follow me". They climbed the wooden stairs. The second floor only contained the rooms; the doors are arranged from left to right. "Anyone who wants to take a shower there are comfort rooms in each room," she added.

"Okay, we'll be going now to Hitomi's room, remember_ no boys allowed_!" said Shiela. Then they got inside the room.

"G… goodnight…" said Xander at the back of the girls. He waited for a reply from Hitomi, but she didn't get any. Hitomi slightly bowed down.

"Xander and I will be taking the room at the end," said Michael.

"So that means I will be with the Zombie Exterminator," said Dan, "Argh…Should've pretended I'm a gay at the start, so I could also sleep with the girls…."

"You're really a pervert aren't you?" asked Eddie looking at Dan doubtfully.

"I'll be using the comfort room first!" said Dan. He pushed Eddie backwards and ran towards the middle door room.

"Ahh wait!" said Eddie as he tried to catch up to Dan.

"I'll reload the guns and segregate each ammos for each guns, you can go ahead me," said Michael

"Oh… okay thanks" said Xander, he walked slowly like he just lost in a lottery and entered the room at the end.

Shiela, Hitomi and Cass finished taking a bath, then Hitomi said "Y…you can borrow my clothes there at the cabinet, you can choose whatever you like." Shiela borrowed a white t-shirt that has a face of the dog printed and cargo pants.

"You've got some pretty legs there Cass!" teased Shiela after seeing Cass in her shorts. Cass pretended she didn't hear anything and lied down in bed. Shiela on the other hand sat at the bed and stared at Hitomi who was arranging her cabinet.

"So how did it go? Did Xander finally confessed to you?" asked Shiela looking at Hitomi with great interest.

Hitomi immediately stood up from her crouching position setting aside what she was currently doing and faced Shiela. "C… confess? W… why did you ask?" said Hitomi trying to sound innocent.

"You're not good at acting you know, the moment you came inside the dining room there was a different air from you, and I confirmed that when Xander came inside. You were trying so hard not to look at him, but he kept trying to talk to you," said Shiela

"Ummm… w – we ki – kissed…" said Hitomi as silently as she could.

"WHAT? YOU'VE KISSED?!" said Shiela silently but as if she shouted. Cass slightly moved her head and then pretended she was asleep. Hitomi's face was as red as ever then she covered her face with a pillow.

"I never thought Xander would have that kind of guts… So umm… is it good?"

"G… good? I c…can't say… I really don't know…" said Hitomi while she set aside her pillow.

"What did you feel? You liked it?" asked Shiela furthermore,

Hitomi who was quite embarrassed didn't say anything.

"Come on share it with us," added Shiela. Hitomi told her the whole story, she was embarrassed but Shiela could see that she was such in bliss.

"I'll protect everyone, especially you," Shiela said imitating Xander's voice and added, "He didn't even said he loves you, but that's more romantic."

"What are you doing?" asked Eddie looking at Dan.

Dan was sticking his ear to the wall between theirs and Hitomi's room

"Shh… they are talking about something, I just can't hear it clearly but I can hear their laughs," said Dan silently and he added "Maybe Hitomi's saying how she really likes me."

"I'll be sleeping now," said Eddie.

Xander was looking outside the window. He could see that a lot of houses were destroyed. Some infected citizens were walking unsteadily, a dog was barking fiercely at them; luckily it evaded their attacks, and took distance then barked at them again. After hearing the door of the comfort room opened he rushed to get to the bed and pretended to sleep.

"So what happened to you and Hitomi?" said Michael and he too lied down at the opposite side of the bed facing away from Xander.

"I don't understand girls, if you do something that shows you like them, they would act like it was nothing, but if you don't do anything they would be mad at you," Xander opened his eyes, and staring holes at the wall before him. Michael listened.

"I have a special friend studying overseas, she has a great resemblance to Hitomi, their personalities and even their physical appearances, we've been recently separated last August, her parents wants her to study on a college school at America, she said she would come back here after 5 months, we kept in touch for the first two weeks but eventually she didn't answer any of my emails or calls, but even up to now it's almost 8 months she still hasn't come back. I'm hoping we could see each other again, but I really don't know when… After seeing Hitomi, I almost thought she was "her", but of course she should have already known me," said Michael, tears were flowing before he could dab at them.

"You should really tell her personally what you feel before she's gone, I really didn't have the chance, because I just felt it after she left, but you have, Xander, tell her now, we might never know what will happen to you or to her," said Michael and he added, "Or else Dan or I might do it first" sounding unserious.

…

The sun was shining as bright as ever, it was not as hot as the past two days, but it was kind of warm. When Xander opened his eyes and looked at his back, Michael was gone and the backpack of ammos, but his Glock was still at the table.

He climbed down the stairs and saw that everyone was up, and Michael was giving out the ammos for their guns. Dan was at his knees holding Hitomi's hands and was reciting a revised poem for her.

"Roses are red… Violets are blue… even if the world has ended, I will still love you…" said Dan with a poetic tone.

"Xander! Get these bullets, it's for your glock, there's also a magazine pouch, and a flashlight attachment for it," said Michael he took it out from the bag and placed it in the table. "I didn't wake you up since you're the most injured."

"Xander! Xander! Look at Hitomi, she looks so beautiful right?" said Shiela she grabbed Xander's arms and brought him in front of Hitomi, and kicked Dan aside.

"Ouch!" said Dan while he touched his left arm where Shiela kicked him.

Xander looked at Hitomi who was looking away to him. Hitomi wore a pink shirt, her shorts had suspenders reaching her shoulders, and her hair has two ponytails at each sides.

"She's so beautiful RIGHT?" asked Shiela, she bumped Xander's arms and took her away from the two. Everyone was looking at them.

"Y…you're right…" Xander said while looking at Hitomi

"Tell that to her idiot! Not to me" said Shiela who sounded disappointed

"Y – you l – look gr – great Hi – Hitomi" said Xander.

"Th – thank you…"

Hitomi looked at Xander who had her head slightly bowed down and she looked down again. Dan kicked Xander aside who almost hit the wall and he kneeled down again getting Hitomi's hand.

"Roses are red, Violets are blue, nothings much more beautiful than you," said Dan again with a poetic tone.

"Enough for that let's kick some zombie ass!" said Eddie lively.


	8. Chapter 8 The Mall

Chapter VIII: The Mall

The sky was peaceful, birds flew across the sky and clouds formed chunks of cotton candies. A nudge on his arm ended his fascination for the heavens.

"Err… are you ok? You said you'll lead the way," asked Dan.

Xander muttered, "Ah! Yeah… s… sorry." He almost forgot that he was now the leader of their group.

Like thieves who had just slept in their victim's house, they silently rushed back to their van carrying their weapons.

The van's engine startled the infected people nearby, causing them to pursue the source of the sound. Dan drove straight through "them", blood splattering on his wind shields.

"If this ends, I'm going to paint and accessorize this."

Normal people were nowhere to be seen; even the usually crowded park where pet contests were held was empty. Utter silence enveloped the van, each of them were holding their weapons near their bodies, like soldiers to be deployed on a mission.

"I'll absolutely get some cool clothes at the mall" says Dan again with great excitement breaking the silence.

Shiela retorted, "Can't you be more serious even just for a day?"

"We're already in a serious situation… I'm just enjoying this while I'm still alive."

It hit them hard that Dan was right. They might be alive right now but who knows, the cloak of death might just come swathing down in two seconds from her eon.

"Turn left after that flower shop. The mall is just ahead," instructed Hitomi.

After flattening a couple of infected people, they finally arrived in the city's mall. The modern architecture was breathtaking; trees surrounded it to give that mellow, natural touch. But nothing of the splendor registered as they were more fidgety about the lack of disturbances. Upon breaking into the ground floor, their vehicle wheel past stores that were all open with no hints of life forms whatsoever.

"YEAH!!! This is all ours!" bellowed Dan jumping around like a lunatic. Shiela let out sigh, and shakes her head.

Xander approached a slightly dusty directory board and studied every floor. "The supermarket is located here on the ground floor, near Toy's and Treats. Let's go."

"We travel light. Bring only what's necessary," said Michael as he caught up with Xander.

"How about Mr. Pirate Cereal? I really, really, _really_ love those!" they heard Dan's stupid squeal.

"…what is ONLY necessary…" repeated Shiela resignedly.

Cass suddenly stopped walking; she immediately drew an arrow from her back and pointed her bow at different directions as though searching for someone.

"Who's there!" she yelled.

They heard a gun being reloaded – panic flew and Xander found his back thudded lightly against Hitomi's - they all held their weapons ready, once again aiming to kill.

Then a voice so calm and slow spoke.

"Ah… What do we have here…?"

The group backed into each other, trying to find where the voice came from.

"Kids… _with_ nasty guns… I see… I see… tsk …tsk… you should _only_ be playing computer games… or… doing your homework…"

"Show yourself!" shouted Michael.

"Well… _that's_… a bit frightening…"

"Fight like a man! Coward!" Eddie added as he fired at the ceiling.

"Oh… no… no… _no_… I didn't say I'm going to fight you…"

"Did I say that Mr. Sniper?" the voice added.

Suddenly a person who was holding a sniping rifle on the second floor's balcony showed up. The group also pointed their guns at him in return.

"We _don't_ want that… Am I right…? Mr. Sniper 2?"

Another man showed up; Xander noticed that a laser was pointing squarely at Michael's forehead.

"Boys."

Then four more people showed up on the first floor with their loaded guns directed at the group. The elevator in front of them rang. The door opened revealing a man donning a white tuxedo flanked by two bodyguards. He looked like he was only in his 30's.

"Oh… I welcome you my _guests_…" said the man as he opened his arms wide. Eddie held the suspicious figure at gunpoint.

"Ayl shut 'ehm boss!" drawled one of his bodyguards. His stubby hand slid ominously into the depths of his pocket.

But the man waved in the air and shook his head.

"Hmm… a rather _brave _kid…"

But the sooner the words left his lips, his eyes suddenly turned a lot fiercer as his visage contorted to an ugly grimace. There was no trace of the calmness portrayed just a while ago – pretentious as it might be – and all that was left was anger and hatred.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW!"

But his eyes started changing again, less wild and humane – in control.

"Surely… none of you want to go boom… BOOM!"

Then he let out a hideous laugh.

"Drop your weapons…" Xander whispered to his friends. He relinquished his hold on his gun and let it clunk hopelessly onto the floor.

"BUT!" retorted Eddie, his grip tightening at his weapon.

"I don't want anybody to get hurt!"

Did Eddie not think he had not forced every neuron in his brain to think of an alternative? Did Eddie not think how restless and erratic his heart was beating as he felt the cold feel of metal slipped from his grasp? Did Eddie not think he was just as afraid as they all were? But despite all the insecurities and doubts, Xander knew one thing for certain, that his friends' safety was his priority, and if that could be guaranteed by giving up the only means for survival – their guns – so be it.

"Our leader said to drop our weapons," repeated Michael as he tossed his guns aside. The others followed suit hesitantly.

"Oh… _a smart_… leeeeader…"

"PICK UP THEIR GUNS!" he shouted at his bodyguards.

His bodyguards darted forward to retrieve them. Eddie was about to get it back but Michael held him off.

"Well then… thank you… for lending them… _but_! I'm not sure if… I'll hand it back," he chuckles.

"This guy's irritating me!" Dan said, his hands trembling with anger.

"Oh…" the man said after spotting the girls. He walked closer to them eyeing at Hitomi. "You've got more _presents _…how _thoughtful_ of you. I really like miss pinky here."

Xander slipped in between them with Hitomi shadowed safely behind him. He stared at the man, willing all the hatred he was harboring to kill the bastard in an instance.

"Oh… Mr. Leader is your lover? HOLD THEM YOU FOOL! DOI NEED TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING!" the man roared with anger.

His other men rushed in and grabbed each one of them, but they all hesitated except Xander.

"You've got our weapons. Leave us alone."

"Ah… ah… ah…" the man raised his pointing finger. "Can you repeat that again? I didn't hear any PLEASE…"

It was degrading; it felt venomous, especially when he could mentally feel Hitomi's wide, scared eyes on the back of his head. Xander came to his knees.

"Please sir, can you leave us alone?" he whispered. The man nodded curtly to the person who was holding Xander.

"HUHHHH???" said the man he cupped his ears. Then Xander was pushed down forcefully his head hit the floor. Roaring furiously, Dan fought to break free from his assailant's grip.

"The boss didn't hear you kid," snarled the person who was holding Xander's head down.

"PLEASE SIR! LEAVE US ALONE!" he yelled.

The man seized Hitomi by her elbow and forced her down to her knees as well. He jerked Xander's head brutally and she could see hot, scarlet blood dripping from his broken nose.

"Is this PLEADING COWARD your boyfriend MISSY?"

Hitomi was crying, looking at the helpless Xander.

"I'll just BORROW… your girlfriend… MR LEADER…" whispered the man to Xander's ear.

"NO!" shouted Xander trying to break from the other man's clutch, he was battered down again by the man's rifle. The man pointed his gun at Hitomi's neck like a hostage.

"A… a… a…Take care of the other girls," ordered the man to his subordinates and they all sniggered.

All the guys were beaten to a pulp, until they fainted. The man in tuxedo entered the elevator again while grasping Hitomi. Before the elevator closed he said, "And… bring Mr. Leader to my quarter."

The man's quarter was a museum for bedroom furniture. Different styles of beds, couches and chairs were displayed. There he pushed Hitomi down on one of the beds pointing his gun at her. He took off his coat and pants, showing his boxer shorts and he stopped.

"What are you going to do?" she asked nervously.

"Ah…_yes_… I forgot! Where's my _manners_…I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm William Riverfield; my family leads a group of drug syndicates, so we're _rich_… I can give you _everything_ you want…"

"I don't care!" cried Hitomi as she threw a pillow to William.

"_Wild_… just how I _like _it…"

"Boss! Here he is," said one of his bodyguards holding the fainted Xander, his hands and feet tied to chair.

"Oh! Yeah I almost forgot… I'm going to let him _watch_… us… as we have fun…"

"Xander!" yelled Hitomi desperately. Tears were beading at the edge of her eyes. "Untie him y… you you worthless evil man!"

"Surely… we don't want him to join _us_… SLAP HIM IN THE FACE UNTIL HE WAKES UP! We can't START if he's still out cold…"

"Yes Boss," the bodyguard said before he slapped Xander in the face, yet he still did not wake up.

Two of his bodyguards came running at the bedroom store with a small drum.

"BOSS!" they yelled. "We've got a drum of water! Thought it might've helped…"

"And I thought all of you have your brains switched with your asses. Well, what're you standin' here for?" William yelled.

"YES BOSS!"

A man held Xander's head and dunked it inside the drum. It took Xander just two seconds to come to and thrash about for dear life when fluid began to flood his lungs.

"Good… NOW LEAVE US ALONE!" William ordered, and then he walked closer to Xander.

"Welcome MR. LEADER… You're now in my precious LAIR… I forgot to tell you my name I'm William Riverfield, and you are?"

"Xander Timelock…" he replied. His blurry eyes scoured his surrounding; trying to get some heading as to where he was when he saw Hitomi on the bed, tears flowing through her crystal eyes.

"Hitomi!" he yelled.

Not minding what Xander said, "Ah… yes a very GOOD name… just as I thought… they look alike…" he muttered to himself. "…I've bought you here to watch us…"

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH HITOMI!" his voice ricocheted across the room.

"…having fun, so just sit tight… and ENJOY the show…" William continued.

"NO! Don't –"

A heavy blow collided with the side of Xander's face, and again, and again.

"Can't you understand? Huh? Huh? _Huh?_"

Xander's left eye was so bruised due to Williams' punches. Blood dripped from the back of his hands, and then he lick it and laughed like a madman. He grabbed Xander's puffy face, fingers pressed deep into his cheeks.

"You just SIT there and watch…" whispered William.

"Please sir… l… let Hitomi…ugh…go, you can torture me anyway you want," Xander begged weakly.

"Torture… hmm… BUT THIS IS HOW I WANT TO TORTURE YOU! Put that down missy… You think I don't know what you're trying to do? YOU WANT ME TO BLOW HIS HEAD OFF!" shouted William sinking his gun in Xander's mouth. Hitomi dropped the vase that she would use to hit William's head.

"Please let him go… y… you can do anything to me…" said Hitomi, her voice is shaking out of fear.

William lowered his gun and laughed "This is so amusing… two lovers… sacrificing their selves for the other… there's nothing as ROMANTIC as this…"

"NO! Don't let him! HITOMI!" Xander shouted as he tried to break free from the ropes.

"Very well then… I'll do as you wish MISSY… but I will not let him GO!" said William, as he peeled his shirt off and threw it in the floor.

"BOSS!" shouted one of his subordinates who entered the store.

"WHAT NOW! YOU WORTHLESS…" he shouted but stopped, as he saw his bodyguard bringing along another woman.

"Boss, we saw her sneaking at our food storage…"

"Let go of me you baboon!" said the woman, struggling to break free from the man's arm. Xander saw the woman's face; she looks like she is at her 20's, he felt that he saw her face before, and remembered she was one of the most popular singer-cum-model in the country. She wore an appealing attire with a fashionable layered short hair.

"… She may be behind the loss of some of our supplies, what shall we do Boss?"

"Hmmm… a SNEAKY… but sexy… mouse… I see… I see… care to join the party?" William asked while observing the reaction of the woman.

"No! You Baboon King!" replied the woman. Then William walked to her and slapped her in the face.

"DO I LOOK LIKE A BABOON?" asked William furiously seizing the woman's hairs. Then the woman spit at his face and looked at him with disgust.

"You want rough eh? Help me tie these girls in the bed!"

"No!" cried Hitomi and the woman as they were tied to the bed.

"STOP THAT!" shouted Xander furiously, his veins in his necks showed up like roots from a tree. This was the first time he felt like his head was about to burst out of anger. As tears flowed from his eyes, he wished that they had not come here in the first place. Despair was eating his guts; he didn't realize that even normal people could act like savages. He began to feel guilty because he approved of the idea to go to the mall.

"Now leave us…" William said to his subordinates, and then he spotted Xander shaking with anger at his seat.

"Ah… now you're beginning to show your true colors Mr. TIMELOCK..."

"Wow… two pretty girls in my bed… LUCKY!"

"Let us go you ugly hideous BABOON KING!" screamed the woman.

William grabbed a couple of pillows and thrust them into their mouths. "That shall do the trick… you two should just moan… ok?" said William.

William touched the legs of Hitomi, "Hmm… very soft and tender… how about you…"

Xander felt like something is moving at his back. "Shh… I'll tell the other details later, let's save them first…" said Shiela who was cutting the ropes with a kitchen knife. After he was free, with no words or sign of thanks, he stood up taking out the derringer in his pocket and rushed to William.

"You both smell good… enough with the INTRODUCTIONS let's…" said William, then a gun clicked at the back of his head.

"ONE MORE MOVE AND I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD TO PIECES!" shouted Xander. It was a different voice that neither Shiela nor Hitomi had ever heard before. So savage, so full of rage...

William raised both of his hands into the air and turned around, spotting Shiela who was holding a knife beside the chair where Xander was tied to before.

"It figures… Another GIRL… my… my… I've got so many GUESTS…" said William with great interest.

"UNTIE THEM NOW!" roared Xander and pointed the gun at William grudgingly.

"Like FATHER… like son… Don't be such a party POOPER!" yelled William before he grabbed the barrel. The trigger was pulled – nobody cared who did it – and a bullet was shot into the ceiling. They brawled like fighters in a tournament; punches flew, smashing into their faces. Shiela was awestruck, she was about to help Xander out but unbelievably he was having the upper hand. Now he was on top of William, pounding the helpless man. Xander did not stop even when William almost had his face rendered unrecognizable and Shiela felt that it was no longer humane, so she held Xander's arms and said, "Stop it already… You're going to kill him!" but Xander pushed Shiela aside mindlessly and kept on beating William's face. Even with bleeding hands, he still kept on.

Hitomi cried, "Stop it please…Xander!" after she took off the cloth in his face. After hearing her voice he stopped. Breathing heavily he stared at the bloody face of one very broken William.

William got a glimpse of Xander's eyes. How he ended up on the gory receiving end, he did not care to wonder, but he felt Xander's stare pierce through him, a killing intent that sent a chill down to his spine, and then he fainted.

Xander got to his feet and called out for Shiela who was still stunned at what she had witnessed.

"Help me," he said untying the ropes binding Hitomi's feet.

Shiela was unable to react for a couple of seconds. It was like she didn't know who was talking to her; she didn't dare to look at Xander in the face. She just uttered "O… okay" then rushed to the woman's side and cut the ropes.

A man rushed towards the store looking troubled and said, "BOSS! The others…"

He stopped at the sight of his boss lying like a dead man on the floor. He raised his rifle and aimed it at Xander, but before he could say anything, he was shot in his right arm.

"What the **** did you just…!"

"Tch… I won't miss next time"

Another man came rushing inside the store and said, "I heard a…"

Another bullet flew to the incoming man and hit his left leg and was sent down whining from pain. Then several other men came rushing to the store, Xander held the head of the William who was out cold and thrusts his gun to its mouth taking him as a hostage.

"Stop right there or I swear, you get to bury his remains in a matchbox," said Xander – his eyes glaring fiercely at the other men. William came back to his senses and tasted gunpowder in his mouth; he saw two of his men injured, and the other aiming their guns at the man who was holding his head up. Hitomi cried "Stop!" but was held by the woman.

"I'll let him eat bullets if you don't throw them down. THROW THEM NOW!" ordered Xander, and then he took off his gun in William's mouth but aimed it at the corner of his eyes, and hissed "Talk to them!"

William coughed blood and muttered weakly "Ugh… h…he's s…serious…"

"You heard him didn't you? Or… LOUDER!" Xander roared at the top of his voice.

William shuddered, and screamed "THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS YOU IDIOTS! MY FATHER WILL KILL YOU ALL IF I DIE!"

His men threw their weapons at their feet.

"You there baldy, tie the others up in that bed's corner pole," ordered Xander. "DO IT NOW!"

The man hesitated but looked at William then grabbed two of his colleagues and tied them by the pole of the double deck, and did the same to the others.

"FASTER!" he shouted again. After all the other men were tied up, Xander told Shiela to tie the bald guy as well. Xander carried William to his men, pushing him down; he grasped the long hair of William and aimed his gun at the side of his head.

"Point… blank… shot…goodbye…"

"NO! P… please… you want money? I can give you lots of them! I'm rich!" pleaded William.

The words did not make sense to Xander. He lowered his head so he could speak directly into William's ear, and as he spoke, his hot breath ghosted along the length of his neck, and –

"Boom…"

He clicked his gun but nothing happened.

William screamed cowardly, tears flowing from his eyes; his voice echoed throughout the store.

"You're lucky I'm out of bullets…" said Xander. He kicked the back of William who was pushed down his face hitting the ground first.

His other group mates came inside the store; Eddie was taking another man as a hostage; Michael rushed in and got to Xander looking concerned.

"Is everyone ok? How'd…" asked Michael, surprised when he saw several men tied up in a bed.

"What happened here?"

Shiela hung her head while Hitomi cried silently in the woman's embrace.

"Looks like the situation is under HIS control" replied Dan, who was looking at the bleeding man curled down the floor. He knew that this was all Xander's doing. Back in their high school days, they got bullied and pushed around by a group of students and this had also happened – only there were no guns involved. Xander went berserk when one of his friends was beaten to a pulp. He miraculously took down two guys, , who was bleeding to death after, no sign of martial arts knowledge nor expertise, just brute strength, back then, he was thankful that he was on Xander's side.

He held the other guys and tied them up also. He had taken out his handkerchief and threw it on Xander's face, just like before.

"Wipe your face, you're scaring me," Dan said without looking at Xander.

Suddenly the fearsome expression on Xander changed and became calm. The killing intent in his eye was no longer there but he was still serious. He picked up Dan's handkerchief on the floor and wiped the blood from his face and said "Th-thank you", staring at Dan.

"Xa…" said Hitomi, but before she could complete it the woman run to Xander first and hugged him.

"You're so cool!" said the woman. "I'm Eliza Cunningwell, you can call me Liz, Eli, or anything you like…" she giggled.

"Eli? The singer and model? Wow! You're so beautiful!" said Dan excited at the sight of Eli.

"I'm one of your fans really, um... can you sign my shirt?"

"Michael, how did you all escape?" asked Xander seriously, paying no heed to Eli.

Michael was unable to speak immediately. Xander's eyes stared at him directly, like it pierced through his head; he pulled himself together and spoke "C-Cass and Shiela untied us…"

"We got our chance when those guys untied us and almost did something absurd…" interrupted Cass, "but Shiela took down most of them." Xander remembered that Shiela was a black belter, back in their high school days.

"So what should we do now?" asked Eddie.

"Remember why we're here in the first place," Xander replied. "We can go get some other stuff later, after we've got our food and other necessities."

Michael handed the guns over to Shiela and Xander. Eli followed them when they got outside, catching up she said, "I know where they keep their food."

Dan heard her; he turned around and asked "Really? Then it would make things easier! Xander! Miss Eli knows where their food storage is!"

Eli accompanied them to the basement of the supermarket; it contained different kinds of foods.

"I-I'll take in charge of the choosing of our foods," volunteered Hitomi.

"One cart is enough. Let's go, "suggested Michael.


End file.
